Feb. I, iS86.] THE TROPICAL AGRlCULTVKiST. 



STi 



at regular intervals ou highly cultured fields of coffee, 

 lu the meautime, worthless e.'^tates hail been aband- 

 oned ; shade had been fostered over the more pro- 

 mising properties, and the most fertile portions of 

 the latter were brought under tlie highest system of 

 modern cultivation. Under shade, and with such im- 

 proved treatment, cotfee suffers less severely from the 

 annually recurrent attacks of '■ leaf disea.se," and 

 the yield from economically managed estates fortifies 

 the owner against los.s ou working expenditure, while 

 on some favorcil plantations in Coorg, Wyuaad, and 

 the >;ilgiris, bumpir crops are still realised. Expe- 

 rience, though still immature, indicates that, where 

 sheltereil from the voilence of the south-west monsoon, 

 0. Succirubras, C. Cal. Ledgers flourish as a general 

 rnle on vir^'iu soil in Ooorg aiid Wynaad, though ; ' 

 growth of the former is less rapid and vigorous upon 

 abandoned coffee lands. "Where the red bark is 

 planted not less than 10 by 10 feet, in highly cultiv- 

 ated cotfee, and when the brandies are carefully lopped 

 from the time they overshadow the coffee, the latter 

 buifers no appreciable injury. In addition to the cin- 

 chonas named, some other varietie.* have been suc- 

 cesfully introduced which seem to find the soil and 

 climate of the drier divisions of Ooorg and 'W'jiiaad 

 thoroughly congenial. The .success of cinchona in 

 these districts may now be considered as assured ; 

 coffee planters who have survived a long period of 

 misfortune may now be said to so have two strings 

 to their bow. — Madras JIail, 



^ THE TUBEEOSE IH NATAL. 



So much progress has been made within the last 

 few years in the cultivation of the double Tuberose 

 in this colony, that no excuse is needed for bringing 

 it under your readers' notice. I cannot exactly ascertain 

 when the Tubero.se was first brought to Natal, 

 but it must have been about fifteen years ago. IMr. 

 Justice Phillips, late of Natal and now of Cyj^rus, 

 ■was a most ardent horticulturist, and the credit of 

 importing the Tuberose is attributable to him. A 

 short account of the fine estate planted by this 

 gentleman near JIaritzburg will be found in Mr. J. A. 

 Froude's graceful little sketch, Leaves of a South 

 African Journal. 



For several j-ears Tuberose bulbs, in number a few 

 hunderd, were simply cultivated, not propagated, 

 their possibilities unthought of. About five years 

 since, however, they were taken in hand, and a diflterent 

 culture began. Instead of the bidbs beign allowed to 

 occupy the same ground year after year without 

 transplanting or division of any kind, they were 

 regularly lifted about June, growth being then at a 

 halt, the offsets taken off, and replanted the following 

 spring (September). 



I .shall describe the method followed in a 10 acre 

 field, which is daily under my notice. In October la,st 

 year, the dry grass having been burnt off, the ground 

 — perfectly virgin soil — was broken up with a large 

 American plough drawn by twelve oxen ; the few large 

 boulders lying about were removed. For a first crop 

 Mealies (Maize) were sown broad-cast, and harrowed 

 in. The next thing was to got the field enclosed with 

 a good bank and ditch and barbed-wire fence. Owing 

 to a press of work the Jlealies grew up untouched 

 tnr the hoe or cultivator of any kind, yet, thanks to 

 the good season, an average crop of fair-sized cobs 

 was gathered last April. 



As is generally the custom here, during the winter, 

 the cattle were tarneil in to feed off the cornstalks. 

 In August last all was burnt that woidd burn, and the 

 ground thoroughly plouehed, cross-ploughed, and 

 harrowed twice, grass and Mealie roots gathered and 

 biu'nt, The soil being in a fine friable condition, 

 furrows were struck out 2 feet apart with a small iron 

 plough and a couple of horses, a simple marking- 

 machine drawn up and down the drills, and the sets 

 planted 6 inches apart, and hoed in, Weeds are 

 vpfy carefully kept down, and with our heavy summer 

 rains the growth of the plant is rapid. About mid- 

 summer (December) the splendid spikes of bloom 

 expand, and continue till mid-winter (Juue); indeed 



in this locality, 2,800 feet above the sea, I am convinced 

 that, with a little management in planting successional 

 batches, they could be had in flower in the open 

 ground throughout the year. For so little frost have 

 we, that Tomatos generally continue to ripen fruit in 

 tliH open through the winter; when in IMaritzburg, 

 about 200 feet below us, they are invariably killed by 

 the cold. Canuot the Tuberose be flowered in the 

 open — at least in the South of England ? I venture 

 to ask your readers to try. The climate of this colony 

 is particularly well suited for the cultivation of 

 bulbous-rooted plants — a hot, moist summer, followed 

 by a dry, cool winter; and, I will add, this locality 

 is f.avoured above many other.s for Tuberose culture. 

 We mi.'s the winter rains of the coast, and escape 

 the up-country summer hailstorms. A rough estimate 

 gives about SO acres under Tuberoses in this colony, 

 and the number of bulbs now in the ground nearly 

 3,0OO,UU0.— K. W. Adlam, Pieter Maritzburg, Natal.— 

 GarJeiurs^ Chronicle. 



TEA: 



THE HOE r. TIANDWEEnliNG AND THE FOKK. 



Early in the year a lea<lini,' planter from Ceylon 

 paid a visit to Assam, and had a general look round 

 the tea districts there, no doubt for the purpose of 

 " picking up wrinkles." Considering the rapid strides 

 made of late by our island rival in the home market 

 it is a question whether we may not have somethiu'' 

 to learn from Ceylon. Situated as Ceylon is, witE 

 a large and well distributed rainfall, and with a 

 climate like a forcing house, it is, as has been said 

 a perfect par.adise for leu/ crops ; and tea is likely 

 to flourish W'here coffee, as a fruit crop, has failed. 

 The marvellous increase of the tea exports from 

 Ceylon, from practically nil ten years ago to nearly 

 foiu' millions of pounds m 188-J-8.i, points to some- 

 thing more than mere advantages of climate and 

 rainfall ; it indicates very rapid exteii,.iion of tea 

 cultivation, and persevering and successful work. 

 The prices realized by Ceylon teas show that they 

 are by no means behind the best of our tea- 

 houses in their manufacture. It is noted, more- 

 over, that any quantity of laud is available for 

 the extentioii of tea cultivation, freehold — or " fee 

 simple" as the Assam planter calls it, — at an upset 

 price of 10 shillings an aero. Oeylon bids fair to 

 become a formidable rival to Assam. One of the diffier- 

 ences between Oeylon and Assam is in cultivation. 

 The Ceylon visitor before alluded to iutroduced a sub- 

 ject whicli, iu one or two districts, has since become a 

 quastio, ve.vatii among his hosts. He argued that the 

 system of hand-weeding practised in Oeylon was one 

 reason of their success: that the use of the old fam- 

 iliar hoe was very much against the tea bush, cuttiug 

 its roots, turning over the soil iu solid clods and not 

 breaking it up or " fertilizing" it. "Hand-weeding" 

 for a while became a regular bone of contention to be 

 discussed with more or less acrimony wherever two or 

 three were gathered together. Some few Assamese 

 swallowedthenoone whole ; others nibbled at it ; others 

 again would not look at it. In other words, one or 

 two men wont crazy on the subject of hand-wee.ling ; 

 some went in for cautiously trying experiments by not 

 hoeing certain selected patches, but weeding them by 

 hand a goodly number disdaiu the idea altogether, and 

 stick to the hoe, pure and simple. No doubt handweed- 

 iugis carried out iu Ceylon on a large scale, most success- 

 fully. No doubt also it is true, as asserted, that where 

 hoeing is done cm hill slopes, the soil is thereby so much 

 disturbed, that it is easily washed away from the roots 

 of the bushes, leaving them exposed; audthat it is 

 necssary to carry soil and earth up such bushes again. 

 Furthermore it may be acknowledged that the hoe does 

 eut the laterals and niu.it tliereby do harm, more or 

 less. Again, no sane planter, in these days of ecouoniy, 

 would deny the advantage of being able to keep his 

 garden clean at a fabulous iiirik of about half an acre 

 to a ea:tra, instead of hoeing it at 20 or 25 nnls. 

 Granting all these facts, the iiuestion remains, — will 



hand-weeding suit the soil aud jvnylc— not weeds of 



au Assam garden X The advantages of rfw^-hoein^ 



